This past weekend my family went on a little road trip to the Ozarks for my cousin’s wedding. I began preparing for the trip a few weeks ago, because as a child I remember it taking at least eight hours to get from our house to theirs.
The girls, for the most part, do pretty well in the car. They don’t bother each other too much and seem to stay pretty entertained. To help with that, I decided to buy a couple of DVD players to make the trip seem a little shorter.
I also let the girls pick out a couple of new DVDs to watch to help catch their attention from old ones they’ve seen several times. As a way to keep my husband and I sane, I also purchased new “Frozen” headphones for the girls, which they love, and we love, too.
We set out from the house at about 7 a.m. on Saturday hoping to get there by 1 p.m. My dad was riding along with us because my mom had already gone down to help with wedding preparations.
After picking up my dad, we, of course, stopped at Casey’s, made a brief stop back at home for a few forgotten items, and were then on the road. At 9 a.m., we were able to get the Iowa pregame show on WHO radio which helped pass the time as we anticipated the beginning of the game.
The girls had to take regular potty breaks and had many refills of juice and milk along with multiple snacks to keep them busy. Because my dad was with us, I was in the very back of the car, which wasn’t so bad, except when I had to get out.
In order to get out, I had to fold down the seat next to me and climb out the back of the SUV. I’m sure I was a sight to be seen trying to twist and turn until I landed on ground.
As we were making our way, we started to lose the radio station, which is expected but still terrible because we couldn’t get the game. In a last ditch effort, I tried to use my ESPN app to at least get audio, but because at some time they picked up DirecTV as a partner, we could stream the game live.
It’s funny how the girls were happy sitting and coloring and watching their videos while their parents and grandparent were happy sitting and watching and listening to a football game in the car.
We made it to the hotel in record time, thanks to so many new four lane roads, and were able to catch the second half on a little larger screen than my phone. The girls did an amazing job both on the way there and on the way home, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that road trips will be a fun, family experience we can have many times in the future.
Contact Jamee A. Pierson at
641-792-3121 ext. 6534
or jpierson@newtondailynews.com